Broken glass shattered on the floor, a destroyed building, and crushed unused makeup products. These are all things you could find at the Woodward Ulta Beauty in Royal Oak, Michigan, on the night of Nov. 9, 2025. A crash into the store during a police chase made national news and surprised people nationwide, with even more shock to the local community. This accident caused lots of destruction to the Ulta Beauty, costing thousands of dollars to repair.
As reported to Fox News, Katrina Deann-Renee Patterson, a 26-year-old woman, attempted to flee the police after being pulled over for driving on train tracks. Officers noticed multiple signs of drunk driving, along with an open bottle of alcohol in her car. Even so, according to Detroit Local 4 News, police say her blood results are pending to find out if she was truly under the influence while driving. Multiple news sources, like Fox 2 Detroit and News Channel 3, stated that when pulled over, Patterson refused to cooperate with the officers from the beginning, but especially once she was asked for her drivers license.
Not only did Patterson drive straight into the Ulta Beauty building, but she also maneuvered herself back into the building by reversing backwards and going forward into the building multiple times as another attempt to escape the police. According to Detroit Local 4 News, these extra crashes caused destruction of additional thousands of dollars to the building repair, along with the cost of the original damage done. Senior Shelby Walter, who is an employee at Ulta Beauty, said that the “overall cost of the accident was not shared to employees,” but it’s clear through the police recorded video that the damage was expensive. Walter also mentioned that managers gave endless support and reassurance to employees when returning to work.
Patterson was not the only passenger during this accident. Patterson was with a male, who was also reported to have an open container of alcohol with him. This man was also arrested along with Patterson, but was released with a citation for the open container of alcohol in the car. Both Patterson, her passenger, and police faced very minor injuries that were treated immediately after the incident, and no one was left with permanent injuries.
The Ulta Beauty location is still recovering from the accident. Ulta Beauty opened again on Sunday, Nov. 15, about a week after the accident. Another concern for the business after the accident is foot traffic, and how many people will remain going to the establishment. Walter mentioned that, “Business has been a lot slower, I don’t think people know that we are open again”. With the extent of the accident, people may think it will take longer than it needs to reopen because of repairs. The Ulta Beauty location was quick to begin construction on the building to be able to reopen.
Not only did Patterson cause damage to the building, but also to all of the structures and products inside the store. “It has definitely been very stressful inside,” Walter stated. After the accident, it has taken a lot of time and work from the whole team to come together and put back what was damaged. But the team is still maintaining a positive attitude throughout the process.
Walter also mentioned that, “It has been a struggle trying to get everything back in place, and get products back on the shelves.” The crash damaged a lot of Ulta Beauty’s stock of makeup and perfume, and it is taking time to get everything back. Perfume can be one of the most expensive things for sale in Ulta Beauty, with prices ranging from $50-$250.
The Ulta Beauty on Woodward did not hesitate to take the steps they needed to move forward. The managing team was quick to let their employees know that nobody was hurt, and everything was okay. “The whole team came to help clean up and process damages,” said Walter. The staff did not fail to quickly help and fix the damage from the accident. The Ulta Beauty location was even able to get the wall boarded up the next day or so after the accident.
More details on Patterson’s arrest have not yet been released and are still being handled by the police.
Ulta Beauty’s staff was efficient and had the team and resources to bounce back quickly, even though it was unexpected.
